


for all the ghosts that are never gonna catch me

by leovaldez



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Gen, Inspired by Art, Originally Posted on Tumblr, Pre-The Son of Neptune (Heroes of Olympus), Video, i mean technically it's pre every thing lol
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-23
Updated: 2020-09-23
Packaged: 2021-03-08 03:14:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 505
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26618767
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leovaldez/pseuds/leovaldez
Summary: don’t think about how hazel spent decades searching through asphodel for her mom’s lost soul, it’ll make you sad
Relationships: Hazel Levesque & Marie Levesque, Nico di Angelo & Hazel Levesque
Kudos: 29





	for all the ghosts that are never gonna catch me

**Author's Note:**

  * For [silima](https://archiveofourown.org/users/silima/gifts).



> this was posted on tumblr, i just didn't remember to post it here lol, but writing a second hazel work made me think about it!!!
> 
> [PLEASE look at nina's beautiful art work, oh my GOD ahhh](https://silima.tumblr.com/post/627358817742651392/you-were-the-one-who-couldve-rescued-me-you-were) (link is posted at the end in case you want to read first then check it out) if you want to reblog with the story version, then it's in the notes, but this one is actually spell-checked lol
> 
> [title's reference to mcr's the ghost of you lol]

It was him again, the pale man, and he gave her the choice to search or go to the castle. Hazel didn’t know what that meant nor where she was. She said _Where’s my mom?_ and he looked disappointed but said _Okay._ Then he, the pale man, her father, pointed to a field and suddenly-

She was walking. She was wandering a blank expanse, stumbling along something that was both blackness and white, the edges of the world scribbled in with a dying marker.

Hazel could breathe, but her lungs were filled with dust. Her bones ached, crushing and crumbling under her skin, her skin covered in dirt. Hazel’s head hurt. It was empty, like the rest of this world. Empty, lonely, quiet- it was all the same.

There was something she needed to remember, but when she thought too much, all she can hear is screaming and the earth rumbling until there was the cracking of bones and then there was silence. She pressed forward, wiping at her eyes, as she wandered.

Despite it being empty, there were other people. Not people, but wisps of what was, trailing around and brushing past her. It was strange. She was solid, yet they were not. Her skin was once again, othering in a world of translucent bodies. Some of the wisps noticed her, some of them did not. They were all lost, she thought.

Hazel tried counting the days but gave up when there was no sign of morning or night. She couldn’t tell how long she had been. To pass time, she hummed songs that she thought used to play in her neighborhood, tried to picture the jazzy saxophone or the tambourine, but came up with nothing but faint melodies that were foreign to her.

Then, after some time, her body shuddered and there was a jolt. Like a pull, Hazel was drawn around the field, her body reading her to something and-

“Ma?” Hazel squeezed the wisp tight. Marie was there now, solid, and she hugged Hazel back. She whispered close to Hazel’s ear, and the girl pulled back, tears falling down her cheeks at the words. Marie dissolved, and Hazel was-

She was drowning. Hazel hated water. Her lungs were dust, and her body was heavy, she was falling and slipping, something tugging at her ankle, and she was hurting _so_ much.

And Hazel looked through the murky water, and there was something pale in the reflection, and she reached and it reached back, until-

She broke the surface, gasping as she was pulled onto the shore. Shivering, she coughed out black gunk, onto the sand, and rolled over. There was a boy now, he was whole and solid just like she, and he gave her a thoughtful look.

“Who are you?” Hazel’s voice was hoarse from disuse.

The boy peeled off his jacket and sat in front of her. He wrapped the jacket over her shoulders, and Hazel had felt warm after however long.

“I’m Nico,” he said. “Nice to meet you.”

**Author's Note:**

> [silima's art.](https://silima.tumblr.com/post/627358817742651392/you-were-the-one-who-couldve-rescued-me-you-were) 💖💖💖
> 
> thank you, have a good one :)


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